


The Hat of a Gentleman

by temporalCorvidae



Series: cfau [1]
Category: Gloomverse (Webcomic), Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: AU, Claire is soft and excitable, F/M, Hershel is a little anxious, Hershel never found his hat, I'll explain the bits in the notes, Just a quick drabble, Softness, basically Claire and Hershel go on a little quest!, there's a couple of Gloomverse canon things that aren't touched upon but they're there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25739683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/temporalCorvidae/pseuds/temporalCorvidae
Summary: Claire takes Hershel to a hat shop. After 28 magicless years, will he find the hat for him?
Relationships: Claire/Hershel Layton
Series: cfau [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867141
Kudos: 12





	The Hat of a Gentleman

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! This is a little side story for an au I made with my girlfriend called cfau (which stands for clusterfuck au dkbdjd) where we compiled a bunch of our interests into one au! My world I tossed in was Gloomverse, and I definitely wanted Claire to help Hershel find his hat, so this is that story! If you don't know Gloomverse, I can fill in a couple things at the notes at the end :)

"Don't open your eyes yet, Hershel!"

  
"Ah, Claire, I can't see-"

  
"That's the point!" An enthusiastic red haired woman chimed, guiding a momentarily blind Hershel Layton along the street.

  
He could hear faint chattering, which would probably mean they were still in the arcade they had entered. He wasn't completely familiar with the area, though. Eventually, there was a door opened, signaled by a faint chime, and a feeling of AC blasting cold air in his face.

  
There was a faint chatter in the room, and Hershel could barely make out what they were saying. Someone, presumably the clerk, greeted Claire, as signified by Claire thanking someone he didn't recognize. Finally, Claire stopped, squeezing his hand so he would stop as well.

  
"Here we are!" She said excitedly, and she let go of his hand briefly. "You can open your eyes now, Hershel."

  
He opened his eyes slowly, blinking a few times as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light.

  
There was Claire, standing in front of him, her gentle waves of firey red hair tied back in a loose bun, her glasses where they usually were on her face, her hat upon her head. It took him a moment to realize that she wasn't what he was supposed to be looking at, and he flustered a little as he glanced around, and… frowned a little.

  
Claire.. had taken him to a hat shop.

  
"… Oh. It's… it's a hat shop," he said quietly, giving her a confused smile. "Claire, is there something I'm missing?"

  
Claire was still smiling warmly, and she reached up, tapping his nose with her finger.  
"This isn't any old hat shop, silly," she chimed, taking his hand again. "This is actually the shop where I got my hat! So.. it's very special."

  
Hershel pictured a young Claire entering this shop with her parents. He imagined her hazel eyes brightening with delight as she pulled her wand out of her hat. He smiled warmly, gingerly reaching up and brushing some of the hair out of her face.

  
Hat shops weren't exactly hershel's cup of tea, and Claire knew this. He remembered countless times, pulling his parents into hat shops and trying to find his hat. How many times he had left those shops silently, hatless, his mother giving him a comforting pat on the head. He stopped trying to go to hat shops when he turned seventeen. He had given up hope that he had magic. And yet, here he was now, in a hat shop with Claire.

  
Claire pulled him out of his thoughts when she gently grabbed the brim of his red cap and pulled it off, allowing his bird's nest of a hairdo fluff out freely. His face flushed red in embarrassment, and he ran a hand through his hair.  
"C- Claire-! Hey!"

  
"Hang on, hang on!" She laughed, setting a new hat on top of his head and pushing him to the mirror.

  
Whatever this hat was supposed to be, it looked utterly ridiculous with hershel's outfit. In fact, the bright blue hat looked so ridiculous that he nearly laughed out loud as a result, which he prevented by snorting quietly behind his hand. Claire laughed at his reflection, before taking the blue hat and replacing it with a green one covered in pink polka dots.

  
"Very dashing, Hershel!" She laughed, and her laugh was so wonderful and light to Hershel that he started to laugh himself, and soon enough, they were both trying on as many ridiculous hats as they could find.

  
Their laughter had quieted down after a while, and the two of them were trying to catch their breaths. Claire had a round cap that nearly looked like a mushroom on her head, and Hershel had a hat that seemed more like a bicycle helmet than anything.

  
Finally, Hershel and Claire calmed down enough to have the sense to take off their hats. Hershel had set the odd helmet back on the shelf when something caught his eye. He walked over to it, examining it in more detail.  
It was a simple brown tophat, with a red satin ribbon around the base. He took it off the shelf, looking it over with a sudden interest. Upon closer inspection, there was an orange puzzle piece ornament attached to the ribbon, not quite matching, but not necessarily out of place, either.

  
"Oh, Hershel! That hat is perfect for you!" Claire called as she walked up to him. "You should try it on!"

  
Almost immediately, Hershel set the hat on his head, looking in the mirror. Claire was grinning from ear to ear.

  
"You look like a true gentleman, Hershel."

  
"A true.. gentleman..?" He pondered aloud, gently taking the hat off and flipping it upside down.

  
Claire didn't say anything, but her eyes widened slightly in realization. Hershel, meanwhile, frowned a little.

  
He'd never found his hat before, why would he find it now? This probably wasn't the right hat. He didn't _have_ a hat, after all. And yet…  
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and reached into the hat.

  
The room around him almost seemed to go dark. He reached further into the hat, feeling for the brim. His breath hitched in his throat when his hand came into contact with a long, thin object instead.

  
His opened his eyes to see mist clearing away. The few people in the shop, including Claire, were staring at him. He looked down at his hands.

  
He was holding a wand. He had found his hat.

  
He turned to look at Claire in disbelief. This was his imagination, right?

  
Claire was gawking at the wand in his hand, before she ran up and hugged him tightly, and Hershel realized it wasn't a dream.

  
"Hershel, you did it!!" Claire cried, kissing his cheek.

  
His face burned red, and he quickly blinked back any tears trying to escape behind his eyes.

  
"I… I found it. I found it!" He smiled shakily at Claire, who was still beaming at him.

  
He could just barely hear the applause from the other customers in the shop, but that wasn't important.

  
He had finally found his hat after all this time, and Claire was giving him the biggest smile he had ever seen. What could possibly be better than this?

  
He had found his hat, and it was the hat of a true gentleman.

**Author's Note:**

> Some quick notes about Gloomverse:
> 
> \- most people get their magic at around age 13 at the latest, 17 is an anomaly, and 28 is just about ridiculous. Magicless people also get a bit discriminated against in Gloomverse  
> \- hat shops are where young children go to look for "their" hat. There aren't really any specifics about how these hats come to be and why they're in shops, but that's how it be.  
> \- the Rite of Passage consists of pulling a wand from your hat. You can only do that if you find YOUR hat. Otherwise you just feel the bottom of the hat!  
> \- I would assume Claire is from steamverse where magicless people aren't "less" than others, which is why the shop isn't gawking too much at Hershel and why she doesn't care about his apparent lack of magic.  
> \- some hats look very weird.


End file.
